Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Patience Ryan on April 20, 2008 at 4:42am

Hi, My name is Patience. I have been been a WA EMT-B for 2 years now. Just this last October I started Volunteer FF training with my local district. I had never thought that I would want to be a Firefighter. Now that i am into it and am really liking it, I am looking to see what I can do with my newfound interest.

One thing I have realized is there is a lot more to firefighting than one perceives from the publics standpoint. A lot more.

Permalink Reply by Roger Waters on April 21, 2008 at 10:50am

Good moring and welcome.

I'm always glad to hear people say what you just did. I think people think we just sit around and play cards waiting for the next call. Firefighting is a highly skilled and demanding career. I hope this discussion group can help you and others to land a career position. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Take care and be safe,
Roger

Permalink Reply by Billy Lovell (Skinny) on April 22, 2008 at 1:51pm

Hello my name is Billy, I've been a volunteer since 2001 and an EMT-B since late 06. I just got hired full time at a fire department and the cheif asked if i would be confortable with takeing the firefighter 1 and 2 test and not have to wait and get the 400 hr cert. i have noticed that thefirefighter 1 test is not much differnt than the certified vol.test.

any advice would be helpfull

Permalink Reply by Roger Waters on April 22, 2008 at 3:47pm

Welcome Billy,

Depending on the state you're in, you are probably right. The Firefighter 1 test is going to be very simular to the Certified Vol test. Now the FF2 test will be much more involved. I'm guessing this is where the 400 hours you're talking about is coming into play.

Permalink Reply by Billy Lovell (Skinny) on April 22, 2008 at 4:02pm

In my state if you take ff1 and ff2 you do not have to get 400 hr cert. but you can still take the ff1 and ff2 if you want the cert. which i think may be my best choice at this time. Do to a lack of training.

Permalink Reply by Ryan Hughes on April 23, 2008 at 8:06pm

My name is Ryan Hughes I am 22 from PA

I am married with a 3 month old daughter.

I have been a member of several Volly companies in my area for about 7 years now.

Im looking to make firefighting my career I appied for DCFD,Reading Fire, and MCFRS
wish me luck i hope to get into one of these fine departments.

Permalink Reply by Roger Waters on April 24, 2008 at 10:05pm

Welcome Ryan, Good luck on the up coming testing. If we can help you out in any way let us know.

Take care and be safe.
Roger

Permalink Reply by Jeremy on May 6, 2008 at 7:29am

Hello, I'm Jeremy, I am currently living in WA state, no department affiliation here, but spent 4 1/2 years as a volunteer in Alaska. I've thought much about whether or not I wanted to go career or not. Either way, around here in WA to get onto a volunteer department you have to go through the same testing as a career FF. This is something I'm not really used to. I'm going to have to find a good workout plan and drop quite a bit of weight and get myself back into shape. I have been out of the game for 2 years. spent a year in Denver, and a year here since leaving the dept. As you can imagine, not much room for volunteer's in that area. Pretty much the same goes here. I live just outside of Tacoma, we do have a local Vol/Career dept, but like I said, the testing standards are the same either way. Any advice at all is much appreciated and welcomed. Also noticed Patience is from WA...if you see this and could let me know where I can go for the WA EMT-B cert I would appreciate that. All of my EMT certs were strictly Alaska Based :( Anyways, I do believe I have taken up enough of your time. Thanks in advance for anything anyone can give me.

Permalink Reply by Daniel on June 13, 2008 at 3:54pm

My name is Daniel I am 20, soon to be 21, I have been a Vol Firefigher for a few years now with a local department and an EMT-B since late 2007, looking to test on Rockford and Sycamore Fire here very soon for a F/T career firefighter/Paramedic position.. I don't have any kids yet but I have a great girlfriend who stands behind my decisions 100% I have also started working toward my Associates degree in Fire Science

Permalink Reply by Roger Waters on August 21, 2010 at 7:56am

Hi all Lets get thing up and running again here anyone new out there?

Permalink Reply by Lee Ashby, Jr. on January 15, 2011 at 2:42pm

Hello, My name is Lee, started out as a Junior FireFighter in 1989 with the Lake Conroe Volunteer Fire Department, became a full FireFighter in 1992, joined the US Army and was out of the fire service till 2009 when I joined the Riverside Volunteer Fire Department in June 2009, enrolled in the Fire Science Technology Course at Lone Star College to become a career FireFighter. Willing to help someone learn, and willing to learn from others.

Permalink Reply by rusty ashley on January 15, 2011 at 5:57pm

Hello everyone. My name is Rusty and im a level 2 firefighter/EMT-B in Ohio. I currently work part-time for a small department in southwest Ohio. I'm 30 years old recently divorced and have no kids. Prior to my divorce I was a volunteer for the small town I was living in. Ive been on a department now for about 3 yrs. After joining the volunteer department and running with them for a while I realized that this is the career for me. Although I've been told several times that firefighting is a "young" mans career I havent let that hold me back. Most departments where I live require you to be an EMT-P plus level 2 FF to consider you for a full-time position so I am planning on attending the Paramedic program in the spring. Another option is relocating south due to the fact that not all fire departments in the south have made the merge between EMS and Fire. Firefighting for me is now a passion, and there's only one way I know to satisfy it.

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